24th Jun 2006, 18:19

1998 Mercury Sable GS 3.0 vulcan from North America

Summary:

Absolutely reliable and inexpensive to own

Faults:

Alternator failure at 100,000 miles. It was very expensive to replace because they use a Japanese-built alternator.

General Comments:

The car was a former rental or lease car with the usual wear and tear issues. A fairly loaded model with ABS (four wheel disc brakes) that has saved me from two wrecks on wet pavement and the 4-wheel discs are amazing in the mountains. The brake pads wear rather quickly, but are cheap and easy to replace. The car also came with 65-series tires standard and quite firm suspension. I love it the wife hates it. It handles very well for such a heavy car. Fuel mileage about 25 m.p.g. highway. About 17 m.p.g. in town.

1998 Mercury Sable LS 3 L 200 hp from North America

Summary:

Faults:

Transmission started slipping, too expensive to fix, I was told.

Electronic components would flicker on and off.

Door ajar warning would stay on at times along with dome light.

General Comments:

This car was very nice to drive, smooth. A bit of road noise from the wheels, but other than that the power was there when needed. Being a station wagon it at a lot of room to carry most kind of merchandise. For a car this size it was great on fuel. I still miss it. It was loaded. Now my new Hyundai Elantra hatchback has really big shoes to fill.

1998 Mercury Sable LX 3.0 DOHC from North America

Summary:

Great car for road warriors

Faults:

I've had several electrical issues with this car. I have been told this is common for the model year. Both rear window motors have burned out. The antenna does not always fully rise. The intermittent windshield washers sometimes acts possessed. (Ford makes bad winshield wipers, wiper blades need replaced every 3 months.) I've had oxygen sensors replaced. Also had tie rods, sway bar, and AC compressor replaced. And of course the usual breaks, tires, shocks, etc. Last ongoing problem is a trunk leak.

General Comments:

This car, for all it's minor nuisance problems, is built like a tank. And the drive is smooth. Handling is less than could be desired, and in rain could be much, much better. Also, body roll is excessive. I would suggest firmer aftermarket shocks and sway-bar. The interior is awesome. The layout of the instrument panel is perfect. My car came with bucket seats and lombard control - extremely nice on long drives. The only thing I would change is to allow the front seats to go back farther. (I'm 6'5" and oddly enough the front drivers side has more than enough room, but the front passenger side feels cramped. Shorter (than me) co-pilots don't have this problem, though.) The rear seats have plenty of leg room and are comfortable with front seats all the way back. The trunk has plenty of room.

1998 Mercury Sable LS Premium 24v V6 from North America

Summary:

Avoid this car

Faults:

This car has had an internal transmission failure so severe that the transmission assembly required replacement (The transmission is the type "Ax4N"). The dealer stated there was an internal mechanical failure and that individual components were unable to be serviced and the only remedy is to replace the transmission unit. I don't call that a failure, I call that a design and manufacturing defect.

30th Nov 2003, 17:11

I own the 2001 Mercury Sable LS, which has 39,300 miles. I am told by Mercury that I am having a miss fire problem, blocked injector, and/or bad coil and wires.

I have replaced the coil, as well as replaced the platinum plugs at 39,000 miles. I think this is ridiculous. I purchased the car because I like the sleek styling. This is my first and last Ford/Mercury product. My car still spits, skips, etc after replacing those things. Now I'm told I need to have the injectors cleaned! I will be on the Toyota lot tomorrow morning 12/01/03!